Italian frame of wood and plaster, gilded, a reproduction of a frame made in Urbino, about 1500, the upper frame with a central panel in black inscribed in gold 'Elizabeth Gonzaga Urbini Ducisse'. Made by Giosué Lumaconi, Perugia, 1850-1860

Italian frame of wood with gesso and gilding, a reproduction of a frame made in Urbino, about 1500, the upper frame with a central panel in black inscribed in gold 'Elizabeth Gonzaga Urbini Ducisse'. On either side of the name panel are eagles with wings displayed amid interlacing floral scrolls. The other three sides are decorated with a repeating but symmetrically reversed design of a plant issuing from a vase. A narrow sight-edge border painted in black with floral scrolls on a gilded ground runs round three sides of the frame. This is a reproduction by Signor Giosué Lumaconi of an Italian frame of about 1500 in the library of the Ducal Palace at Urbino.

In design this is a cassetta frame, but the top horizontal is a superimposed entablature with dentilled moulding that is at odds with the other three sides. The sight edge and back edge mouldings have very flat and straight surfaces (though warped) quite unlike what one would expect to find on a gilded 16th century frame. A heavy, granular, white gesso has been used. There is no hanging fitting on the back, only mirror plate holes.

Bought for £7. 12. 11. from Signor Giosué Lumaconi, Piazza del Municipio, Perugia
Authority for purchase - the Rt Hon A.H.D.Aeland's on RP 30925/1893

See Dennistoun's 'Dukes of Urbino'

Letter from Lumacomi to Armstrong 21/1/1893, explaining how Lumaconi went to Urbino, and got Signor Gualdesi, professor in the Accademia delle belle arti to copy the two frames (ie construct them). It seems clear that Lumaconi then gessoed, gilded, burnished and painted them in his Perugia workshop. They were seen and admired by Lemo, Rossi, Scotti and Signor Prof Costa. Lumaconi claims that his price quoted (1200 lire) allows him, after the costs of bringing the frames to Perugia, only 1.5 or 2 lire per day for his work of gessoing, 'beating the gold especially to imitate the antique finish', gilding and burnishing, and requests additional payment.

This frame was acquired as a fine example of frame-making at a time when the Museum was almost wholly concerned with showing excellent examples of skill to educate and inspire designers and craftsmen. The design is based on that of a frame of about 1500 in the Library of the Ducal Palace at Urbino. Two people seem to have been involved in the making of the frame: Signor Gualdesi, professor in the Accademia delle belle Arte in Urbino, who made the frame, and then Signor Lumaconi, who seems to have been responsible for the gessoing and gilding of the ornament. Traditional skills of frame-making were still very current in Italy in 1893.

420-1893